Entertainment

Man Claims Wearing Google Glass-Type Eyewear Led to Bizarre Attack

Can't wait for Google Glass to become available in 2014? This may temper your enthusiasm: A Canadian man wearing similar eyewear in a French McDonald's claims he was physically attacked when someone in the store tried to rip the device off his head.

Steve Mann, a Toronto resident, blogged on Monday that the incident occurred on July 1 at a McD's in Paris. After ordering two Ranch Wraps, one burger, and one mango McFlurry, the attacker "angrily grabbed my eyeglass, and tried to pull it off my head," Mann wrote. Mann notes that 'the eyeglass is permanently attached and does not come off my skull without special tools."

According to Mann's blog, the attacker was not a McDonald's employee but had a nametag that he covered up. Since the device Mann was wearing was still photographing, he published pictures of the incident with the attacker's faces blotted out.

Mann, an inventor, claims he has worn a "computer vision system" for 34 years. He has worn the current version (pictured above) for three years. "I originally created this technology, and the computer vision algorithms (e.g. HDR = High Dynamic Range), to help people see better," Mann wrote.

To address fears that the device might be used for spying or other purposes, Mann says he carries a doctor's note. He produced the note at the Paris McDonald's when an employee asked about his eyewear. The employee appeared to accept the note and shortly afterwards, Mann says he had a pleasant interaction with the cashier at the restaurant, who complimented his daughter's French.

Things went awry after that though. As Mann writes, "Subsequently another person within McDonalds physically assaulted me, while I was in McDonald's, eating my McDonald's Ranch Wrap that I had just purchased at this McDonald's." Mann then showed the doctor's letter and the attacker and two others reviewed it.

One of the men then ripped up the letter and the initial attacker pushed Mann out on the street.

Though Mann has no proof that the attacker worked for McDonald's, he speculates that the company took issue with him photographing the inside of the restaurant. In fact, there was a similar incident in 2011 with another Paris McDonald's in which a woman claimed she was assaulted for taking a photo.

McDonald's reps could not be reached for comment on Mann's claims.

Meanwhile, Mann has been acknowledged as a pioneer in wearable computers. A rep for the University of Toronto also confirmed that Mann is a professor there. A Wikipedia page also shows Mann wearing various forms of digital eyewear from 1980 until the late 1990s. He is also the author of a book listed on Amazon called Cyborg: Digital Destiny and Human Possibility in the Age of the Wearable Computer. Mann could not be reached for further comment.

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